Smoke Detector Awakes Residents to Fire

Friday, December 19, 2008 - Breckenridge, CO

Shortly after 5 a.m. this morning, four residents were awoken to the sound of their fire alarm. When they searched the house, located at 222 Highlands Drive, to find out what caused the alarm, they discovered a small fire in the mechanical room.

Red, White & Blue firefighters quickly arrived on scene, and contacted the homeowner, who told them he extinguished the fire with a garden hose from the garage. Firefighters went to the mechanical room, and, using their thermal imager camera, confirmed that there was no more fire or heat built-up in the room and in-between the walls.

Fire investigation revealed that the fire was the result of a faulty boiler that was placed on a platform in the mechanical room. The platform was built so that fumes from cars in the garage would not ignite the pilot light on the boiler and cause an explosion. The heater burned through the front of the platform, causing the heat detector in the mechanical room to activate, which then set off the fire detector system.

"The fire alarm system performed exactly as it should have," said Fire Marshal Jay Nelson. "It alerted the sleeping residents and allowed them time to get out of the house," he said. Nelson also encouraged homeowners to have their heating devices inspected yearly to make sure they are operating correctly.

Damage was minimal and the fire appears to be unintentional. The boiler was taken out of service and will need to be replaced. The 5300 square foot house, which was built in 2001, is owned by the Bellays, out of Dallas, Texas.

"We cannot overstress the importance of having fire and carbon monoxide detectors," said Captain Kim Scott. "Every residence should have at least one of each type of detector on every level of their home. This is a great success story for the residents and their home," she said.

---

Press Contact:
Capt. Kim Scott, PIO
cell: 970.485.4374
email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

---

« Back